Randa Allen Interview

You know the designer fantasy about starting your own line…..Your first runway bow, Inspiration vacas to Europe…Cocktails with Lagerfeld to talk color inspiration. What a wonderful dream…..

A wise man once said the first step in following your dream is to wake up…. So in 2001 after 15 years of working my ass off for other fashion companies that’s exactly what I did.

Scared as ever…I opened both eyes…. wrote a business plan…. took out a second mortgage and turned in my resignation letter.

Six years later here I am….still standing

I am Randa Allan, head designer and founder of the popular contemporary line “Notice.” And although I’ve yet to sit down with Lagerfeld….and can’t remember the last time I took a vacation for anything….Today, Notice is a multi million dollar company with 6 brands, 23 employees and a 12,000 sqt foot office in downtown LA.

It is not easy…did I say that??? I can’t believe I just used the word easy. Correction….Its damn hard… It’s so damn hard I’ve probably had to scream at the top of my lungs every day for the past six years….if not at anyone else most definitely at myself. Damn!!…Oops…coulda shoulda woulda!!…. what just happened??? ….F*@%!!!!!

So when the FBI…. the very place I learned how to write my first business plan asked me to help with this q and a Blog to help new designers avoid some of my same mistakes…. I thought I’d do my part to help the environment by reducing the screams, swears and other expletives polluting our beautiful fashion community.

Here we’ll discuss serious business issues like……

How to make a dollar out of fifteen cents (finance)…How to not sell your soul to the devil (sales)…. and keeping other people happy even when you’re on the verge of a nervous breakdown (management). Oh and then there’s my personal favorite…. How to tell the difference between an angel and a smiling snake (business intuition 101)…..plus of course anything else you write in about….

In an industry where it seems like Drama is the only constant…. We still have to remember that somehow we were lucky enough to find ourselves in one of the most exciting, creative and lucrative businesses on earth. Because of that in the words of our dear friend Tim Gunn…we have to “Make it Work!”

So Cheers folks…This Blog is for you!!!!

Send your questions to blog@fashionbizinc.org